NOTES: This is the first time since 1995 Delgado has hit as low as seventh in the batting order. … Back-up catcher Ramon Castro was activated from the disabled list and Raul Casanova was designated for assignment. … Matt Wise is in New York with the team, but a decision hasn’t been made on when he will be activated.

John Delcos enters his third season covering the Mets for The Journal News after eight seasons on the Yankees beat. Prior to coming to New York, John covered the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians.

44 Comments

metsfan

wow, i love this line up, if castillo hits and gets on base, this is the line up we need. It extends the line up and allows Church (one of our best hitters) to be an RBI guy. His HR’s would be a lot better with men on base.

dfa doesn’t mean released. it means he has to pass through waivers and then will report to AAA.

assuming that happens, he will be ready and waiting for the next time castro hits the dl.

and this team needs castillo in the 2 hole to be successful. he really is a prototypical #2 hitter and having church batting in the 5 spot should give our hottest hitter (hopefully) more chances to drive in runs with (presumably) more guys on in front of him.

the key to this lineup is the fact that w/ delgado now batting 7th (where he rightfully belongs at this point) it won’t need to rely as much on his production to score runs.

so Bob, would you rather waste Church and his RBI ability in the 2 hole, or have him hit 5th where he can be a 100 RBI guy? Castillo has a .353 OBP currently, thats not great, but not horrible, like i said, if he hits, and raises his average to say .280, which is quite conceivable, he’ll have an even better OBP, perfect for the #2 hole. As for Casanova, what are we going to do? Keep him on the team the whole year and have Castro play rehab games for the rest of the year? Castro is better then Casanova, bottom line.

i also think our record while Church bats in a certain spot is a vastly overrated stat, and means virtually nothing. You put Church in an RBI position because he’s an RBI hitter. Castilllo has the ability to be a good #2 hitter, and 1 month in a season will not convince me he can’t do that anymore. If you judged every player based on 1 month, you’d be harshing on a lot of guys.

as for joba’s reactions. i find it ironic that some of the same media members who were taking the mets to task last year for jose reyes’s celebrations are defending joba.

if you think the handshakes and dancing before you get to the dugout “wakes up the other team” and is “inappropriate” then the same standards have to apply to the fist pump and shouting “I’m back” after getting david delucci to strike out to end the 8th inning of a meaningless game.

you can’t criticize one and defend the other. it’s one and the same.

personally, i would prefer neither. but the game (and all sports) has changed so much in the last 10-15 years (see: td celebrations, the way basketball players pose and posture if they dunk a ball even if their team is down 20, etc.) that i think it’s now just another part of sports.

wow, I am completely astonished in how belligerent and douche the generation of hip hop listening/teacher beating up teenagers has become. metsfan – that goes out to you and metsgrl, you two were completely disrespectful to me. Id love to beat both of your 15 yr old snot face faces into the pavement.

I will tell you the real secret about the success of the No. 2 hitter. It all depends on Jose Reyes. If Reyes is getting on base and being aggressive, does it really matter if it is Church or Castillo? I liked the switch earlier because Castillo wasn’t playing that well while Church was hot.-JD

Name me a team in this league that has 3 catchers on their team, 3 players that are exclusively catchers. No one does that. As for Endy and Pagan, I think its ridiculous for people to assume Pagan can do that same things as Endy. Sure, Pagan made that play the other day, but his defense leaves A LOT to be desired. He might have the worst throwing arm i’ve seen in a very long time. You keep Endy around because of his D, because you have Alou on your team.

my problem with castillo batting 2nd is he dosnt wait for reyes to steal second, then bunt him to third. he usually bunts on the first pitch and reyes is at second. not at 3rd which would(should) usually be an automatic run on another team I guess not this team tho

doug – Bobby Valentine once said that he’s NEVER had both catchers hurt in a single game. theres really no need for 3 catchers, then youd basically have 2 bench players – anderson and castro who are only hitters

The AL doesn’t count, because of the DH they can afford to carry 3 catchers if so desired.

But in the NL most teams need the flexibility of having options to PH for the pitcher and in the case of our youth/health-challenged roster, defensive replacements and subs for the few days a week that our 2B, LF, CF, 1B need days off.

I don’t know much about the 3 C’s on the Reds—other than Valentin is the Stache’s brother—but my guess is that one or more of them is capable of playing either 1b, or OF.

Kieth – my name is Bob, and I am a Motivational Speaker! Now, let’s get started by me giving you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about! First off, I am 35 years old.. I am divorced.. and I live in a van down by the river! Now, you kids are probably saying to yourself, “Now, I’m gonna go out, and I’m gonna get the world by the tail, and wrap it around and put it in my pocket!!” Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re probably gonna find out, as you go out there, that you’re not gonna amount to Jack Squat!!” You’re gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river! Now, Kieth, what do you want to do with your life?

No fair; What’s the sense of picking on metsies when Bob is here to prove the “despicable” nature of little metsies so well…. You are so low bob you even harrass a good kid like metsgrrl94… you are the worst metsie in history…. see that steve c you are moving up the ladder…..